Trust and Believe
by Sunshine-hime
Summary: Haru dreams of Yuujin and Gatchmon is there to remind him of what's important.


**Rating: General**

**Warnings: None**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Universe: Applimon and make no profit from this work.**

**Notes: This story is dedicated to Haru Shinkai, who gave me the prompt and beta'd the work. Thanks so much lovely!**

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"Hey Haru?"

"Yeah? Is something wrong Yuujin?"

"-ill...yo...ememb...e...?"

"Huh, what was that? I couldn't-"

"my...art...Har...hav...t...?"

There's a loud crash and Haru is startled out of his sleep. He wakes in stages, the haze of his mostly pleasant dream fading. He blinks once, twice and the soft down of the bedsheets and pillow brings him back to reality. What day is-oh, right. Sunday. He stretches, body languid at the lack of anything important scheduled today.

"Yuujin again, huh? I wonder what he was trying to say." Haru wouldn't say he _always_ thinks about Yuujin, but if he's not otherwise preoccupied his mind will, without fail, come right back to him.

He'll be taking entrance exams for college soon and in his downtime preparing for those he continues to study anything related to AI programs and androids. But even with the combined efforts of himself, Rei, Hackmon, Hajime, and his grandfather they've barely made any headway into recovering Yuujin's data.

"HARUUUUUU!" The loud and cheerful voice of his Buddy, Gatchmon, is heard long before he pounces on Haru's stomach, forcing him to sit up. "Hey. Whatchu thinking about?"

Haru chuckles and his mood lightens a little bit. That would explain all the noise earlier then. "Hey yourself. And it's nothing really. Just, I had another dream about Yuujin."

Gatchmon crawls off of Haru and reaches over to the shelf, grabbing a Gatchmonaka he hid behind the books. Haru doesn't bother reacting this time, his pleas for him to stop storing food near his books always fall on deaf ears. "Again? You've been dreaming about him like every night!"

"Every night? I don't, I mean it happens more _now_ but..." And when he considers it, he realizes how true that is. He sighs. "I guess you're right. But why would that be the case? You're supposed to think of someone who's gon-_not here_ less as time passes, not more." Although truth be told, he's grateful that's not the case. A world in which Yuujin matters less to him, who fades from his memories into nothing, sounds too awful to think about.

Gatchmon's eyes light up and he chews faster. "Maybe it means something good will happen soon - like a sign!"

Haru's breath catches. A sign? From Yuujin himself? He wishes. That would be incredible, seeing his best friend again after all this time. And not only him either. Ai misses him dearly too and Offmon tries to cover up his heartbreak with smiles. His own heart grows heavy with guilt and longing. He just wants his friend back. "It might but. Even after all this time, we've only managed to run into dead ends. I won't - I know I can't give up but _still_. What if we don't find him? What if he's really gone?" And to his horror, fat tears pool then fall down his now burning cheeks. Why is he crying today of all days? Nothing bad even happened in his dream. Just him and Yuujin sitting in the park with Ai.

Gatchmon's eyes widen and he flails around, crumbs flying everywhere. If Haru hadn't been so wracked with guilt, he would have laughed at his partner's antics. "Hey Haru, it's okay! Everything's gonna be fine. I'm here remember? And I've been searching too. I'm the ultimate Search App who's never failed to find anything before and I won't fail now. We'll find something, all of us, together."

Haru wipes his face on his pajama sleeves, trying but failing to muster a smile for his Buddy. "I know, I know. I have to snap out of it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."

Gatchmon shakes his head. "It's not your fault. I'm your Buddy, of course I'm gonna worry. And I want you to talk to me about how you feel too. That's what friends are for, right Haru?"

"Thanks. I just." Haru takes a deep breath. Even after all this time, it's hard to open up. Not because he thinks his friends aren't willing to listen, but because he hates feeling like a burden. But Gatchmon is right. It won't do him any good to bottle things up and he wouldn't want any of his friends to do that either. "So many times, we were so close. Or at least it felt like it. That we were on the right path. But then it turns out to be completely wrong, every time. Every single time. And I feel like I'm, I'm failing him every single one of those times, you know?"

"Except you're not! And you know why?" Gatchmon stands up, his claw hand pointed at Haru, who is stunned silent. "Because Yuujin gave you his heart in the end! He trusted you with it, trusted you not to forget him. And he was right, since you've been trying to save him all this time. So as long as you keep going, you'll never fail him. Got it?"

Haru bunches his hands in his blanket, lost in deep thought. Memories. Yuujin's heart. He was… he was given those precious things.

"-ill...yo...ememb...e...?"

"my...art...Har...hav...t...?"

"Will you remember me?"

"My heart Haru, you have it?"

He can hear Yuujin's dream words echoing in his mind. There's a wind in his heart and it blows away all the fog. The path before him is clear.

"Hey Gatchmon."

"Y-yeah. You okay Buddy? You just zoned out there for a minute."

"Well first off, what was all that earlier about never failing to find anything? Cause I can think of a few times your search function didn't work right." And he pokes at Gatchmon's pouting cheeks, a laugh reaching his ears. It takes both Haru and Gatchmon a moment to realize it came from him.

"You feeling better now?" And there's a big smile on his best friend's face.

Haru can't help but return it in kind and brings Gatchmon in for a tight hug. "All kinds of better, thanks to you. I think you just gave me a way to bring back Yuujin."

Gatchmon gasps in shock and fidgets in his arms until he lets go. "Really? That's amazing Haru! How you gonna do that?"

Haru throws off the blanket and stands, displacing Gatchmon with a surprised "oof." He places a hand over his heart. "Remember what you said, that Yuujin trusted me with his memories and his heart? Yuujin told me that too, in my dream. And I think that might be the key." Haru's hand becomes a fist and his expression is set. "I need to run my idea by everyone else first but I'm sure of it. I'll bring back Yuujin this time."

Gatchmon jumps off the bed, an audacious grin splitting his face. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go get our friend back!"

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**I plan on trying to complete a new Applimon fanfic once a week. So look forward to more and thanks for reading!**


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